Plants find it harder to absorb carbon dioxide amid global warming

at the University of New Hampshire says that few studies have actually looked into this on a global scale.

To learn more, Xiao and his colleagues analysed ground measurements taken between 1982 and 2016 from sensors scattered around the world that measure fluctuations in CO2 and water vapour in various environments, such as forests and savannahs.growth in different locations. Using machine learning, the team combined these datasets to broaden the fluctuation measurements to a global scale.

The models suggest that, on average, increases in global photosynthesis levels have slowed since 2000, despite the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere continuing to rise. This is probably due to the rise in the so-called vapour pressure deficit offsetting some of the increase in CO2, says Xiao. ThisThe higher the deficit, the more water evaporates off plants’ leaves, in a process called transpiration.

The findings mean that using tree planting as a way to soak up CO2 may not have as big an impact as previously thought, says Xiao. Trees can store carbon for centuries, but we may have to rethink the idea that the amount they take up will get greater due to higher levels of photosynthesis from raised CO2 levels, he says.

Xiao agrees the model has uncertainties, but says the team still found a consistent trend in photosynthesis rates worldwide.at Columbia University in New York says that while the study is based on a fair few assumptions, the researchers acknowledged this in their paper. “It’s important to note that this isn’t a direct measurement of what has happened, but is instead a projection,” he says.

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